Champagne moment as supernova captured in detail for the first time
Researchers record the earliest moments of a supernova as a shockwave blasts its way through a star
Stock illustration of a supernova. Using data from Nasa’s Kepler space telescope, astrophysicists have observed in unprecedented detail the initial light burst from a supernova. Photograph: M Weiss/Nasa/CXC
Donna Lu
@donnadlu
Thu 5 Aug 2021 13.30 EDT
The earliest moments of a supernova – the cataclysmic explosion of a massive star – have been observed in unprecedented detail, in a development researchers say could help us better understand what happens to stars when they die.
Using data collected from Nasa’s Kepler space telescope in 2017, astrophysicists recorded the initial light burst from a supernova as a shockwave blasted its way through a star.
In a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists suggested the star that exploded was likely a yellow supergiant, which is more than 100 times bigger than our sun.
Patrick Armstrong, a PhD student at the Australian National University and the study’s first author, said the earliest phase of a supernova had not ever been fully observed before.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/06/champagne-moment-as-supernova-captured-in-detail-for-the-first-time
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Mar 21, 2016
Caught For The First Time: The Early Flash Of An Exploding Star
The brilliant flash of an exploding star’s shockwave—what astronomers call the “shock breakout”—has been captured for the first time in the optical wavelength or visible light by NASA's planet-hunter, the Kepler space telescope.
An international science team led by Peter Garnavich, an astrophysics professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, analyzed light captured by Kepler every 30 minutes over a three-year period from 500 distant galaxies, searching some 50 trillion stars. They were hunting for signs of massive stellar death explosions known as supernovae.
“To put their size into perspective, Earth's orbit about our sun would fit comfortably within these colossal stars,” said Garnavich.
Whether it’s a plane crash, car wreck or supernova, capturing images of sudden, catastrophic events is extremely difficult but tremendously helpful in understanding root cause. Just as widespread deployment of mobile cameras has made forensic videos more common, the steady gaze of Kepler allowed astronomers to see, at last, a supernova shockwave as it reached the surface of a star. The shock breakout itself lasts only about 20 minutes, so catching the flash of energy is an investigative milestone for astronomers.
More:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/Kepler/caught-for-the-first-time-the-early-flash-of-an-exploding-star
